New Delhi: A powerful earthquake
hit China's Sichuan province on Monday afternoon.
Almost 8,700 people are reported dead with every
indication that the death toll will rise. The
after shocks of the magnitude 7.9 earthquake
were felt as far as Beijing and the Vietnamese
capital of Hanoi.
A resident of Chongqing,
Wu Ying was stated as saying: "I was so
scared, the room I was staying in was shaking."
Communications were disrupted
with only a trickle of news coming into Sichuan's
capital, Chengdu.
However, reports have suggested
that the devastation could be widespread. Houses
and buildings have collapsed, trapping hundreds
of people. School buildings caved in killing
scores of children and communication lines have
broken down with most mobile phone towers having
collapsed.
The 44 aftershocks that
followed saw buildings sway even in Beijing
more than 2,000 km away. Tremors were also reported
from 10 other provinces including Ningxia, Qiinghai,
Gansu and even Tibet, although no reports of
casualties have come in.
Premier Wen Jiabao is in
Chengdu and is personally supervising rescue
operations.
In a speech that he made
just after the quake, the Premier said: "Compatriots
and comrades, the most important things when
we face the disaster are calm, confidence, courage
and strong direction. I believe with the strong
direction of the Party Central Committee and
State Council, our army and people united together,
we definitely will overcome this very serious
disaster, the earthquake."
President Hu Jintao ordered
3,000 troops in the affected area. The army
has mobilised moving in troops and rescue equipment.
Medical teams are being rushed from Beijing
and other provinces.
China has not appealed
for any international assistance so far and
no damage has been reported to the Olympic site,
which the authorities say they made quake proof.
There has been no damage
either to the Three Gorges dam in Sichuan which
was reported safe.
This is Sichuan's worst
earthquake in 30 years. The last quake to hit
China was in 2003 in Xinjiang, which killed
94 people, while the worst was the quake that
struck Tangshan in 1976 which killed more than
2 lakh people.
